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Reduced density matrix and cumulant approximations of quantum linear response

Reduced density matrix and cumulant approximations of quantum linear response
Reduced density matrix and cumulant approximations of quantum linear response

Linear response (LR) is an important tool in the computational chemist’s toolbox. It is therefore unsurprising that the emergence of quantum computers has led to a quantum counterpart known as quantum LR (qLR). However, the current quantum era of near-term intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers is dominated by noise, short decoherence times, and slow measurement speeds. It is therefore of interest to find approximations that can greatly reduce the quantum workload while only slightly impacting the quality of a method. In an effort to achieve this, we approximate the naive qLR with the singles and doubles (qLRSD) method, by either directly approximating the reduced density matrices (RDMs) or indirectly through their respective reduced density cumulants (RDCs). We present an analysis of the measurement costs associated with qLR using RDMs and report qLR results for model hydrogen ladder systems; for varying active space sizes in OCS, SeH2, and H2S; and for symmetrically stretched H2O and BeH2. Discouragingly, while approximations to the 4-body RDMs and RDCs seem to produce good results for systems at the equilibrium geometry and for some types of core excitations, they both tend to fail when the system exhibits strong correlation. All approximations to the 3-body RDMs and/or RDCs severely affect the results and cannot be applied.

Absorption spectroscopy, approximation, elements
1549-9618
1652-1663
von Buchwald, Theo Juncker
b163c171-9daf-42dd-8336-552539d9215b
Kjellgren, Erik Rosendahl
c05eb9d4-e87e-43da-800a-1828d8d7f95f
Kongsted, Jacob
460ce016-8491-4084-8934-a439c16105c5
Sauer, Stephan P.A.
7a0e1312-165e-4670-ac1c-a0f3541e4181
Coriani, Sonia
a1d68d22-6db5-4c02-9971-097ff3f7bc71
Ziems, Karl Michael
6d346238-2471-47c7-b89f-590059caf037
von Buchwald, Theo Juncker
b163c171-9daf-42dd-8336-552539d9215b
Kjellgren, Erik Rosendahl
c05eb9d4-e87e-43da-800a-1828d8d7f95f
Kongsted, Jacob
460ce016-8491-4084-8934-a439c16105c5
Sauer, Stephan P.A.
7a0e1312-165e-4670-ac1c-a0f3541e4181
Coriani, Sonia
a1d68d22-6db5-4c02-9971-097ff3f7bc71
Ziems, Karl Michael
6d346238-2471-47c7-b89f-590059caf037

von Buchwald, Theo Juncker, Kjellgren, Erik Rosendahl, Kongsted, Jacob, Sauer, Stephan P.A., Coriani, Sonia and Ziems, Karl Michael (2026) Reduced density matrix and cumulant approximations of quantum linear response. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, 22 (4), 1652-1663. (doi:10.1021/acs.jctc.5c01353).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Linear response (LR) is an important tool in the computational chemist’s toolbox. It is therefore unsurprising that the emergence of quantum computers has led to a quantum counterpart known as quantum LR (qLR). However, the current quantum era of near-term intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers is dominated by noise, short decoherence times, and slow measurement speeds. It is therefore of interest to find approximations that can greatly reduce the quantum workload while only slightly impacting the quality of a method. In an effort to achieve this, we approximate the naive qLR with the singles and doubles (qLRSD) method, by either directly approximating the reduced density matrices (RDMs) or indirectly through their respective reduced density cumulants (RDCs). We present an analysis of the measurement costs associated with qLR using RDMs and report qLR results for model hydrogen ladder systems; for varying active space sizes in OCS, SeH2, and H2S; and for symmetrically stretched H2O and BeH2. Discouragingly, while approximations to the 4-body RDMs and RDCs seem to produce good results for systems at the equilibrium geometry and for some types of core excitations, they both tend to fail when the system exhibits strong correlation. All approximations to the 3-body RDMs and/or RDCs severely affect the results and cannot be applied.

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Accepted/In Press date: 14 January 2026
e-pub ahead of print date: 5 February 2026
Published date: 24 February 2026
Keywords: Absorption spectroscopy, approximation, elements

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 510905
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/510905
ISSN: 1549-9618
PURE UUID: 80731537-1b8c-4795-9fe7-59e29c05c8f3
ORCID for Karl Michael Ziems: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5369-7778

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Date deposited: 24 Apr 2026 16:47
Last modified: 25 Apr 2026 04:05

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Contributors

Author: Theo Juncker von Buchwald
Author: Erik Rosendahl Kjellgren
Author: Jacob Kongsted
Author: Stephan P.A. Sauer
Author: Sonia Coriani
Author: Karl Michael Ziems ORCID iD

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